3 Feared Dead After Tug Boat Sinks in Bali Straits.

(1/4/2008) Three seamen working on a local tugboat are missing and presumed drowned when their ship capsized in the Bali Straits, between Java and Bali, on Sunday, December 23, 2007.

The tugboat is owned by a South Kalimantan shipping company and was towing a 13,000 metric ton coal barge to Cilacap in Central Java when strong currents and large waves caused the vessel with a crew of 9 to capsize.

One crewmember was hospitalized, three are missing while the remaining 5 seamen were successfully rescued. Two machinists, Edi Sulihtiono (23) and Edi (30), both from Cilicap, Central Java, are believed dead after being trapped in the boat’s engine room. A third fatality was Hasanudin (28) of Makassar who was lost without trace after he jumped into the rolling seas as the tug boat sank.

Jayus (34), of Jepara in Central Java, remains warded in a Banyuwangi hospital after ingesting large quantities of water and toxic fuel before breaking a window and escaping the boat's lower decks.

The remaining five crew are safe after being rescued by local fishing boats.